


The Breaking Point

by Enterprisingly



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 8x21 Coda, Angst, Drabble, Episode Related, Feelings, M/M, The Great Escapist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-10 04:28:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/781785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enterprisingly/pseuds/Enterprisingly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel is bleeding to death in front of him and Dean realizes that he's really tired of this same scenario playing out over and over again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Breaking Point

**Author's Note:**

  * For [everkings](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=everkings).



> Coda to 8x21 because I should be sleeping but writing fic is obviously more important. Dedicated to Everkings on tumblr because she helped me out majorly and was looking for coda fic last night.

It should really shock Dean to see Castiel this way; covered in blood, hanging on by a thread, and finally, stubbornly giving in and asking the Winchesters for help. Instead, what shocks Dean, when he just barely avoids running the angel over with Impala, is how used to this whole scenario he is becoming.

Over the course of their shared history, Cas has been many different things to Dean. An enigma, an enemy, a comrade in arms, a friend, and… something _else_ that is hard to explain, even to himself. Sometimes Cas has been more than one of those things at the same time. Over and over he has gone off to battle, not always for the right side but always for what he thought were the right reasons, and over and over he has wound up where Dean sees him now: bloody, broken, and so very lost.

It occurs to Dean, as he and Sam practically carry the angel back to the car, that he wants to be sick from it all. He is so tired of seeing Cas like this and knowing that there is likely nothing he can do to stop it from happening again, because Cas, stubborn bastard that he is, still refuses to let them help him until it's too late. The snarled ball of unfathomable thought that constitutes Castiel’s brain seems to have remained fixated on one thing and one thing only; the idea that by sacrificing himself, deliberately putting himself in harm’s way, he can somehow spare Dean. 

Sam and Dean lower Cas into the back seat, where he slumps forlornly, head resting against the seat, eyes screwed tight with pain. In that moment, Dean decides that he has had enough. As Sam heads back to the passenger seat, Dean leans down and places his hand on the angel’s shoulder. “Hey, Cas.”

Cas’s eye crack open as he replies, “Yes, Dean?”

“This,” Dean gestures up and down at Castiel’s battered form, “stops now. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep on saying it until it finally sticks; you’re family and we need you. I need you... And you need us. So like it or not, the next time you feel like fight an impossible battle, you will _not_ be doing it alone.”

With great effort, Cas lifts his head and meets Dean’s gaze, straight on. “I… can’t promise that I will never do something like this again.”

Dean opens his mouth to protest, but Cas plunges onwards. “But I will take your words into consideration. Because you’re right… I do... need you.”

That's as good an answer as Dean could have hoped for right now, even though it's not _exactly_ what he wants to hear. All the same, Dean nods his head, gives Cas’s shoulder a gentle squeeze and straightens up. “This talk isn’t over.” He says, and then he shuts the car door and walks back around to the driver’s seat.

It is a long way back to their hideout, but this conversation is not one to be had in front of other people or while Cas is so gravely injured. So Dean starts the Impala and drives, comforted by the familiar rumble of her engine, and satisfied that for the moment, at least, he has his family in one place and none of them are going anywhere without him.

**Author's Note:**

> Edited to fix minor errors now that I'm actually awake.


End file.
